Newest NFL mock draft has Broncos taking a corner from Alabama

It’s mock draft season, and many folks are curious what the Denver Broncos will do with the No. 12 overall pick come April.

While conventional thinking has them taking a QB in Round 1, that might not necessarily be the case.

There’s a very outside shot they keep Russell Wilson in 2024, at least that’s what Sean Payton and George Paton say, or they could go hunting for a veteran. If you want to dream big, that’s a name like Kirk Cousins or Baker Mayfield. Smaller fish would be the likes of Gardner Minshew, Jacoby Brissett or Mason Rudolph.

Regardless, the QB will be the most talked about position in Denver the next few months. While an ESPN mock draft has Payton and Paton taking J.J. McCarthy out of Michigan, NFL.com’s Daniel Jeremiah is going a different route.

In his first stab at things released on Friday, Jeremiah sees the Broncos going an entirely new direction. In fact, not even a player on offense. He projects Denver to take cornerback Terrion Arnold out of Alabama.

“I think Arnold could go as high as fifth overall in this year’s draft,” Jeremiah writes. “He’s the best cornerback in the draft and he would pair with Pat Surtain II to give the Broncos one of the best CB tandems in the league, if not the best.”

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It’s an interesting thought, as the Broncos currently don’t have a reliable No. 2 cornerback. But at the same time, QB is the obvious need, followed by help on both offensive and defensive line and at tight end. Jeremiah has Georgia stud TE Brock Bowers going 15th to the Colts, someone Denver fans would be very unhappy if the team passed on while he was still on the board.

Given that Payton and Paton don’t reveal much, this is as good of a guess as any. But with all due respect to Arnold, if the Broncos go cornerback in Round 1, it won’t exactly get their supporters real fired up.

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